COLUMBUS, Ohio >> Last year at this time, the Wild were just beginning to answer questions about slow starts, about how they didn’t appear ready when the puck dropped. Through five games, they were 2-2-1 but had surrendered 21 goals.

It’s been much different this season so far.

With a 3-1 victory over the Blue Jackets on Saturday at Nationwide Arena, the Wild improved to 3-0-2 and have allowed a total of 10 goals, have outscored opponents by a combined 5-1 in the first period and have yet to trail in regulation, period.

According to NHL stats, the Wild’s streak of 300 minutes without trailing is the fourth-longest to start a season, right behind Boston’s run of 301:41 to start the 1990-91 season.

“I think we’re just ready,” forward Freddy Gaudreau said. “We take it a game at a time, and then it doesn’t matter whether we won the last game. Who cares? We come back and we’re ready for another one. We’re focused. We’re in the present moment. And that’s allowed us to start strong.”

Filip Gustavsson continued his strong start in goal, stopping 23 of 24 shots he faced, and Marco Rossi, Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello scored goals for Minnesota, which continues its five-game road trip on Tuesday at Florida.

Rossi gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 12:40 of the first period, and the Wild withstood a 4-minute high-sticking minor on Yakov Trenin early in the second period, just seconds after they had a 2-0 lead cut in half by goaltender interference.

Middleton had just cleaned up his own shot, which bled underneath the pad of Columbus goaltender Daniil Tarasov, for an apparent 2-0 lead. Instead, the goal was wiped out because Jakub Lauko was deemed to have pushed a Jackets defender into Tarasov and caused him to fall.

“It stunk,” Middleton said. “I don’t really know the rules for goalie interference, but they’re almost like quarterbacks now, right? You can’t touch them at all. So, yeah, it stinks it got overturned, (but) we were hoping to build momentum killing four minutes. We did a really good job of that.”

That change of fortunes might have tipped the scales in the Blue Jackets’ direction, but the Wild held strong and broke the game open with a pair of goals in the first 8 minutes of the third period.

Gustavsson didn’t allow a goal until Yegor Chinakhov scored off a neutral zone turnover with 1:25 remaining. Before that, Kaprizov scored 6 seconds into a 5-on-3 power play, and Mats Zuccarello finished a rush by beating Tarasov 5 hole with a backhand.

“To me, that’s back-to-back games where we played the right way with a lead,” head coach John Hynes said.

The Wild led St. Louis 3-0 in the third period before winning 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Gustavsson improved to 3-0-1 with a 1.49 goals-against average and .950 save percentage and so far looks like the goalie who went 22-9-7 with a 2.10 GAA and .937 save percentage in 2022-23 than the one who was 20-18-4, 3.06 and .899 last season.

“I think we as a team have played really good defensive hockey and we trust each other back there,” Gustavsson said. “Everyone’s doing their part of the job, and when you trust each other, it makes you comfortable and then you play your best.”

Tarasov stopped 32 of 35 shots for Columbus.

Rossi put the Wild up in the first period, taking a pass from Trenin alone in the slot and beating Tarasov high and to the left for a 1-0 lead at 12:40 of the first period.

“It was a really good forecheck,” Rossi said. “I think (Marcus Foligno) got the stick on the pass, and then Trenin found me in the slot. So, I had the easiest job to score.”

The teams played to a standstill until early in the third period, when Jordan Harris threw the puck out of play and was called for delay of game. Sixteen seconds later, Cole Sillinger was called for tripping, giving the Wild a 5-on-3 advantage.

Hynes called a timeout to set up a play, and it took only 6 seconds for Kaprizov to get a pass from Brock Faber in the right circle. His one-timer beat Tarasov between his shoulder and the near post.

Kaprizov had the assist on Zuccarello’s goal that made it 3-0 at 8:25 of the third.

The only teams that have started a season longer without trailing, according to NHL Stats, are the 2015-16 Montreal Canadiens (324:47) and 1969-70 Bruins.